First section of Victoria St roading upgrade complete

Roading work in Victoria St – between Kilmore and Salisbury streets – has been completed and two-way traffic restored.

“We are thrilled that our contractor, Fulton Hogan, is finishing the upgrade of this section of Victoria St so quickly,” Christchurch City Council Transport Planning and Delivery Manager Lynette Ellis says.

“We know the work is disruptive for the businesses in the area but we had to reconstruct the road because it was in a pretty poor condition.

“We are also improving the quality of the public spaces along the road and making them more people-friendly because this is a popular area of town, with lots of great bars, restaurants, cafes and shops,” she says.

The work over the past few months has involved replacing 650 metres of dilapidated stormwater drains underneath Victoria St and reconstructing the entire road, including the footpaths, which, in some places, have been widened.

New street lighting and landscaping will be installed in the coming months to improve the look and feel of the street, with Japanese Maple trees in large pots lining sections of the street.

Ms Ellis says the work to upgrade the northern end of Victoria St – from Salisbury St to Bealey Ave – is progressing well and the invasive and disruptive works are planned to be completed before the end of the year.

Some of the Fulton Hogan crews who have been working on the upgrade of the south end of Victoria St are being redeployed to help with the upgrade of Hereford St, so work on that project can also be completed as soon as possible.

Hereford St is being upgraded between Manchester St and Cambridge Tce.

The cost of upgrading both Victoria St and Hereford St is about $13.3 million.